To my wife, Toni, and son, Alex.

Special thanks to these fine photographers: Erik Aeder, Branden Aroyan, Art Brewer, James Cassimus, Sylvain Cazenave, David Darling, Kirk Devoll, Jeff Divine, Dana Edmunds, Gordinho, Leroy Grannis, Jeff Hornbaker, Don James, Jeff Johnson, Don King, Kimiro Kondo, Don Marsh, Tim McCullough, Dan Merkel, Ben Moon, Bev Morgan, Joe Quigg, John Russell, Denjiro Sato, John Schwirtlich, Tom Servais, John Severson, Craig Stecyk, Ron Stoner, Andy Tullis, Mike Waggoner, Steve Wilkings, and John Wrenn.

I wish to thank my mother and father, both avid readers and writers, for instilling in me their love of books. To Michael McPherson, a surfer friend from the old days and accomplished author; mahalo for providing much needed motivation, patience, and understanding. To good friends—Gordon Clark, Roy Mesker, Bruce Bailey, Tomoko Okabe, my brother Victor Lopez, George Kam, Dale Hope, Michael Cassidy, Dave Chun, Yvon and Malinda Chouinard, Rick Ridgeway, John Dutton, Jane Sievert, Tom Adler, Casey Bevington, Takashi Isobe, Yoshinori Ueda, Steve Pezman, Jeff Divine, Drew Kampion, Alex Dick-Reed, and Steve Zelden—thanks for all the encouragement and support. To George Downing, a very special person to me and the world of surfing. And most of all, thanks to surfing and all the great surfers who made these stories happen.